By Johannes Schabort.

You took up bow hunting because you wanted a challenge, having hunted extensively with a scope-equipped rifle. You acquired a compound bow and had success, most probably from a hide.

Congratulations! Bowhunting, regardles of the type of bow used, is always a challenge.

It was and still is an exciting way to hunt. Yet come to think of it, it’s not so difficult, after all. The animals come to you where you sit in the blind, many of them different species, and you can pick and choose the one you want. They came in close, very close. At home you shot small six-arrow groups at that distance. You just have to wait for your quarry to turn broadside. You aren’t too surprised when you see your arrow strike right where the sight pen settles. It’s almost easy.

Yet somehow you feel that you haven’t really hunted, even after finding your buck. You haven’t walked a yard, let alone raised a sweat, and this feeling intensifies after you successfully hunt a few more animals.
Do you want a real hunting challenge? To experience what old timers like Howard Hill, Art Young and Saxton Pope felt? Then get yourself a long or recurve bow.

No, I do not look down at the compound bow, nor the men and women who hunt with it. I started bowhunting with a compound. We all did. I still respect the performance that technology brought. And no, I have nothing against hunting from a blind either, although I have only done it once, for about 20 minutes, before the "wanderlust" took over. It is a perfectly legal and ethical way to hunt with a bow.

Perhaps more so than on foot, because you can bide your time more productively and place the shot better. The quickest way to have success with a bow is most probably to hunt with a correctly tuned and sighted compound from a hide. I just do not do it that way. Maybe I am a bit of a stupid die-hard.

Hunting on foot with a long or recurve bow is different, to say the least, especially as far as the experience is concerned. Yes, you can do it from a hide, but you probably won’t; you will want to hunt on foot. Somehow it feels that’s how you should do it. It’s harder to get into bow range, much harder. Time and again, after many fruitless stalks and having the animals stare and bark (laugh?) at you from a safe distance, you will get the uneasy feeling that you are indeed making a fool of yourself, especially in the eyes of people who do not know better.

Furthermore, the long or recurve bow is more difficult to shoot accurately at unknown ranges. Not because these bows are less accurate – they are not – but because of the human factor, and the way the bow is shot. You have to hold the string at the full force of the bow and release it smoothly with your fingers, without plucking it like a guitar string. You have no sight pins, only two mental sights: “too far" and "close enough". So you have to practise more and harder at unknown ranges, at least twice as much. If that is asking too much, stick to the compound.

Shooting the long or recurve bow accurately for hunting purposes is not all that difficult. Anyone can master it with enough practice, provided the bow is not too heavy (strong). Like casting a fly line, there is no mystery about it. You must merely acquire the right style and get the hang of it. It comes with practice, slowly, but steadily. Surely there is someone around where you live who can teach you.

Practising and honing your shooting abilities while afield is a great part of the enjoyment of the hunt. All long bow and recurve shooters carry at least one blunt-tipped arrow while on the hunt. These are used for shooting at mole heaps, dung heaps and tufts of grass waving in the wind (no rocks!) when no game is in sight and the coast is clear. I have never seen compound shooters do it – they obviously do not need the practice – but it ups your confidence for the moment of truth, which could be just around the corner, when the impala ram or kudu bull steps into bow range, unaware of your presence.

When you see your arrow arching through the air with a soft hiss and dropping into the target zone, you will know that you are hooked for life. Even when you miss that big animal completely ("How could I !?"), which will happen more often than not, you will smile. That grin will linger on your face for quite a while and you will relive the moment many times over. You will have no regrets, because merely getting within bow range was an achievement, with a reward all its own.

Strange things happen to you when you start hunting with a long or recurve bow. Firstly, you will never again hunt with a compound. You will probably never sit in a hide again either. Your hunting buddies in the hides, armed with their compounds, will have far more success than you on a regular basis. But it won’t matter. You will rejoice with them.

Secondly, you will become fairly disinterested in having the fastest bow and all the technological archery gadgetry that is on the market nowadays, because you have tasted the lure of the bow in all its wonderful simplicity and efficiency. There is nothing that can come loose or rattle, or let you down at the last moment, except a string that breaks. And for such moments you keep a spare, broken-in string in your pocket. This is what bowhunting is all about.

Do not let anyone tell you that long bows and recurves are "just for playing around with", nor that they “merely wound", or are only effective on small game. Of course, they cast the same-weight arrow slower than compounds of the same weight, but arrow speed is not everything. A sixty or even fifty-pound long bow is a formidable, full-scale hunting weapon, capable of bringing down any game hunted by the majority of rifle hunters.

You will no doubt have noticed that I have not once used the word "traditional", as all non-compound bows are referred to nowadays. This is actually a misnomer. To me, a traditional bow is one made entirely from natural materials, usually a single piece of wood, unbacked or backed with rawhide, wood, bamboo, sinew or other natural fibres. The string can be of dacron. Hunting with it is very much the same as with any long or recurve bow, and as effective, but even more of a real hunting experience in the true spirit of bowhunting. May your arrows hiss softly towards your target.

Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 2:19 PM